Coronavirus cases traced to a business meeting in Singapore have reached three European countries after causing infections in Asia, illustrating the challenges of containing an epidemic whose death toll is now higher than SARS.
A cluster of cases in France, Spain and the U.K. confirmed over the weekend all appear to have links to a French ski resort, where the infected people had contact with a British man who had just returned from the conference in Singapore.
The meeting, which took place at the Grand Hyatt hotel, was organized by an unidentified company in January and attended by more than 90 foreigners.
The spreading pattern is reminiscent of the SARS outbreak in 2003, when a single infected doctor transmitted the disease to multiple people and it was then carried around the world.
Malaysia and South Korea had already confirmed cases of the virus linked to the Singapore meeting last week, and the cluster of European cases indicates that the meeting has become a major seeding event.
France’s Health Ministry announced Saturday that a group of five Britons sharing a chalet in the Alps had been diagnosed with the virus, following their contact with a British man who attended the conference and tested positive after his return to the U.K.
Both the U.K. and Spain confirmed further cases Sunday of Britons who had contracted the virus in France, with one patient being treated in London and
